Majoring in Sustainability

It’s been more than four years since the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal produced its first special sustainability issue, and revisiting what was written on the subject in 2008 proved to be an interesting exercise.

The two dominant questions in that first issue should have been — and probably were — easy to predict. Decision-makers wrestled with whether building to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards was worth the cost, and also how to win a collective buy-in from employees in terms of implementing environmentally friendly practices.

Fast-forward to this, our fifth annual “Greenest Office” issue, and the answers to those problems seem clear. Building to LEED standards — or at least using them as a guideline — is an effective way to cut waste and energy costs, boost recycling revenue, etc. And employees, we’ve learned, almost always embrace the idea of being better stewards of our planet and its resources.

Nowadays, it seems practically every business is doing at least a little something in the arena of sustainable practices. The big question has become how businesses can maximize their efforts not just to be environmentally responsible, but also to boost bottom lines.

We’re confident the winners of the 2012 Greenest Office & Sustainability Awards, featured within these pages, have aced those questions. It’s our further hope you and your business can learn — and profit — from their stories.